On the Approximate Calculation of Half-Power Beam Width for Uniform Circular Arrays

In this paper, the approximate calculations of the half-power beam width (HPBW) of a uniform circular array (UCA) in azimuth and elevation are investigated by numerical calculations and data analysis methodology. Two corresponding formulas are proposed to approximately estimate the HPBW of UCA in azimuth and elevation under different pointing directions of the main lobe. The proposed formulas’ validities are examined by comparing the results with the ones directly calculated from the array factor. Besides, the accuracies of the proposed approximate formulas are evaluated in both absolute error and error rate. The calculation speed is assessed in time as well. Numerical simulation results are provided to show the proposed formulas’ performances.